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National Fish Habitat Action Plan
Science and Data Components
The Science and Data Engine
Behind the Action
Gary Whelan USGS Water Census Ad Hoc
Committee Call July 1, 2010
Mission of the National Fish Habitat Action Plan
• Protect • Restore • Enhance
Plan Background • Non-regulatory • Multi-Agency and NGO Effort • Science and Data Based
– National Fish Habitat Assessment – Data Support Systems
• Partnership Focus and Action Unit
Historic View of “Habitat” The Real World
Key Plan Tenets • Must address the problems underlying
habitat issues, not the symptoms – Must address system process level issues
• Must consider scale and science • Must show real progress in improving
aquatic habitat that leads to improved fish populations
• Must make strategic investments in habitat – Protect intact healthy systems – Rehabilitate degraded systems – Improve engineered systems
Key Science Products • Science Products
– National Fish Habitat Science and Data Framework Document
– Interim 2010 Conservation Targets and Strategies
– National Fish Habitat Assessment – Decision Support System
Key Data Products • Data Products
– Data Delivery System – Science and Data Public Interface – NFHAP and Conservation Project Tracking
Database – Conservation Priorities Database
Cape Fear River - Piedmont
Appalachian Piedmont WWF Ecoregions
National Fish Habitat Assessment
Assessment Purpose and Background
• Help Board and Partnerships with prioritization decisions and determining success
• Measure process condition not symptoms • National Scale
– Data sets – National, Consistently Measured, Biologically Meaningful
– Stressor Index • Base system infinitely flexible
– Analysis – Any geo-referenced possibility – Include detailed partnership data
• Allow for learning
Assessment Foundation
• Systems are nested and hierarchical • Systems can be classified
– Organize and summarize information – Comparisons
• Processes and their key component/impairments – Can be classified – Nested and hierarchical
• Inland and coastal systems must be connected
Condition Focus on Key Processes (Emergent
Properties) • Connectivity • Hydrology • Channel and Bottom Form • Material Recruitment • Water Quality • Energy Flow in Aquatic
Communities
Condition Analysis • All impairment variables
– Percentage of the natural variation • Scaleless • Related to the expected values of the system • Provides appropriate comparisons between
different systems – Example – Percentage area of classified
unit that has sedimentation rates > 25% above expected natural variation in sedimentation rates
A landscape assessment approach • Landscape measures of human activities in
catchments are useful predictors of in-stream water chemistry, physical habitat, and biotic integrity (Gergel et al. 2002; Allan 2004)
The intensity of anthropogenic activities in catchments will influence the degree of local
habitat degradation.
Norris et al. (2001)
Danz et al. (2007)
Condition Analysis • Initial assessment
– Surrogates from existing databases that are national in scope with consistent measurement
• 22+ databases will be used for 2010 Assessment • Transfer functions will be developed
• By 2015, fill in with real and modeled data
Ecologically Sound Spatial Framework
• Highest Level • WWF Freshwater Ecoregions and Coastal Ecological Regions
• Mid Level • TNC Ecological Drainage Units (EDUs) • Coastal Assessment Framework (EDAs and CDAs)
• Lowest Level • Drainages • Individual Waters • Estuaries
• Glue • National Hydrography Dataset plus (NHD+) and Coastal
Assessment Framework
Inland Assessment
Horizontal and Vertical Data Summaries
Selection and attribution of GIS data • Criteria used to select databases for processing:
1. Meaningful for assessing fish habitat 2. Covers entire conterminous United States
(considering use of regional data sets in refinement) 3. Consistently developed for the lower 48 States
• Two types of parameters that influence habitats: 1. Natural factors 2. Anthropogenic
Natural factors (partial list) -72 Total
Source Year Scale/
Resolution
Variable
NHDPlus 2005 1:100 k
• Sequence # • Catchment area • Link, Dlink • Reach length • Reach elevation • Strahler order • Size stratum
Nat’l Elevation Data 2004 30 m • Slope • Elevation
STATSGO 1995 1:250 k • Soil type • Soil permeability
National Land Cover Data 2001 2001 30 m • 11 cover types
National Land Cover Data 1992 1992 30 m • 8 cover types
PRISM 1960-1990 4000 m
• Mean annual precipitation • Mean annual temperature
Anthropogenic factors (partial list) - 29
Source Year Scale/
Resolution
Variable
US Census 2000 2000 1:100 k • Road crossings • Road length
EPA 2007 Point • CERC, NEPT, PCS, TRI USDA 2002 1:2,000 k • Cattle NOAA 2000 1000 m • Population density USGS Minerals Information Team 2003 Point • Mines & processing
plants
USGS 2000 County • Ground/surface water use
USGS 2001 County • N and P applications from fertilizer &manure
National Land Cover Dataset 1992 30 m • 10 land cover classes USACE Nat’l Inventory of Dams 2004 Point • Dams USFWS Fish Passage Decision Support System 2002 Point • Barriers
National Atmospheric Deposition Program 2006 1000 m • Precipitation chemistry
Initial Inland Stressor Variables Developed open space (%) Low intensity urban (%) Medium intensity urban (%) High intensity urban (%) Impervious surfaces (%) Pasture/hay (%) Cultivated crops (%) Ground water use (MGD/km2) Surface water use (MGD/km2) Cattle density (#/acre farmland) Population density (#/km2) Road crossings (#/km2) Road length (m/km2) Dams (#/km) Mines or mineral processing plants (#/km2) Toxics Release Inventory sites (#/km2) National Pollution Discharge Elimination System sites (#/km2) Superfund National Priorities sites (#/km2)
• 17 variables selected based on: – interpretability – utility for nationwide analysis – literature review – relationships to other variables
Analytical Approach
Habitat Indicator
Data
Step 1: Develop Stressor Axes Principal Components Analysis
Stressor Analysis
Habitat Assessment
Biological Response Data
Fish Abundance and Diversity
Step 2: Weight Axes and Portion Stressor to Scale Multivariate Analysis (e.g. Multiple Linear Regression, Pathway Model, Neural Network, etc.)
Product 2 Fish Habitat Condition
Index
Cumulative Landscape Disturbance Index
Coastal Ecological Region Layer
Data Framework Four units of
analysis • Watersheds (347) • EDAs (124) and
CDAs (194) • Inshore State
Marine Waters • Offshore Waters
Category Threat / stressor Indicator(Comprehends single-or groups of descriptive
variables)
Freshwater inflow
Extent of shoreline armoringLand use / cover
Harmful algal blooms (HABs)Status of soft bottom habitatStatus of hard bottom habitatsStatus of coastal wetlands
Chemical contamination of sediments
Chemical contamination in fish and mollusks
Non-indigenous and invasive species
Plankton densityBenthos community
Status of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV)
Connectivity
Environmental Contamination Pollution
Biodiversity
Geomorphology
Area accessible to fish
Tidal flow
Degree of estuarine channelization
Percent change in impervious surfaces in watershed
Food web alteration
Nutrient input
Status of habitat forming invertebrates
Hydrology / Oceanography
Coastal construction: Dams, dikes, roads (stormwater),
Dredging
Eutrophication Water Quality
Biotic Habitats Habitat loss
Dredging, Sedimentation, Erosion
Coastal Stress indicators - 50
Analytical Approach
Habitat Indicator
Data
Step 1: Develop Stressor Axes Principal Components Analysis
Stressor Analysis
Habitat Assessment
Biological Response Data
Fish Abundance and Diversity
Step 2: Weight Axes and Portion Stressor to Scale Multivariate Analysis (e.g. Multiple Linear Regression, Pathway Model, Neural Network, etc.)
Product 2 Fish Habitat Condition
Index
Assessment Status • Overall hierarchal spatial system in place and
functioning – Inland – NHD+ and “lakeshed” – Coastal
• Inland (Lower 48 States) – Rivers and Streams – Complete and in refinement – Lakes – Lakesheds nearing completion and planning in
progress – Reservoirs and Impoundments – Underway by RFHP
• Inland (AK) – Refined assessment at HUC 12 in review
• Inland (HI) – Initial analysis complete and refinement in progress
Assessment Status • Coastal
– Spatial system in place – Lower 48 • AK and HI – In progress
– Datasets and stressor variables selected and attribution ongoing
– Great Lakes – In planning – Interaction between Inland and Coastal – In
development
Assessment Status • Climate Change Module
– National scale with detailed regional projects (i.e. Northern Midwestern lakes, Lower Colorado River)
– Downscaling climate data nearly complete – Development of likely land use changes in
progress • Stressor analysis in response beginning
Data System Components and Status
• Data Delivery System – Initial system developed and refinement underway
• Science and Data Public Interface – System design and prototype complete
• NFHAP and Conservation Project Tracking Database – System design and planning in progress
• Conservation Priorities Database – For future development
Decision Support System - Future
• Combined Habitat Assessment and Socioeconomic Index – Refined assessment variables and
scores – Socioeconomic variables
• Which ones? – Examples – Probability of success,
proximity to population centers, number of interested parties
Thank You!
Visit www.fishhabitat.org for more information
Gary E. Whelan Michigan DNRE
[email protected] 517-373-6948